This following was inspired by a conversation I had with a fellow coworker.

I work in the parts department of a Toyota dealership, my particular job is in shipping at our parts warehouse. We wholesale Toyota and Lexus parts locally, throughout the south and internet sales nationwide. The orders we receive from auto body and repair shops through out the southern region come to me to be shipped. The orders are first picked and placed in my area to be processed. After processing, I stage them to be loaded and delivered to two delivery hubs, one in Georgia and the other in Alabama. Along side of this responsibility, I have returns from our local body shop customers that I have to send back to other auto parts distributers of other auto brands, we are like the middle shipping provider among those we do business with.

I shared all this to lead up to the conversation mentioned above.

One morning I arrived at my desk to find a cart full of Toyota and Lexus auto frame parts that was returned to us, but they were not our parts. All parts from Toyota-Lexus have a label that has the dealership’s registration number on it, these parts belonged to a variety of other dealerships. So I had to send them back to where they came from noting on the shipping labels that they are not our parts.

Now this leads us to the conversation – One of my coworkers seen the stack of returns and made a comment about how many there were. I agreed and said, Yep, more than usual and that I have take the time to process each of them so they can be sent back to those who sent them to us. This means that they will be included with all the daily orders I have to process along with the orders that come in throughout the day. It becomes a race against the clock as there are two shipping deadlines I have to meet every day.

I concluded the conversation with, “I didn’t write the ingredients of the day, my job is to cook with what I was given.”

After those words came out of my mouth, I immediately remembered a teaching from Rabbi Nachman of Breslov of blessed memory that I had learned several years ago.

In an article written by Shaul Mizrahi, “Rely On Hashem For Everything”, he explains Rabbi Nachman’s teaching like this, “He (Rabbi Nachman) goes on to explain how he fulfills his own advice. Each day, he gives over all of his actions to HaShem, that everything should be according to His will. Then, he does not worry at all about whether his day went well or not. This does not refer only to how a person does in business. Even in spiritual matters, a person should give everything over to HaShem.”

In other words, when we begin our day, we do not know what the day holds for us. We do not know if we will have car trouble, get stuck in traffic and be late for work or an appointment. We do not know if we will meet our soul mate or receive an increase in income. I do not know what orders awaits me from day to day or how many more the printer will spit out throughout the day.

The ingredients of a single day are known only by the Creator. It isn’t till the end of the day we are able to look back and read the recipe.

When we come to the reality that we do not write the ingredients, and that it is our job is to cook with what we are given, this will free us to live happily.

May we all grow in this area, so our service, trust and faith in the Creator will get stronger with each day.

Terry W. Hayes
3/5/22

Photo by me.

PS. I acknowledge up front that there will be some that will miss read and or misunderstand the message of this blog. Rebbe Nachman’s teaching that is briefly shared here does contain a Torah principle that does require some Torah study to fully grasp.

Please do not leave derogatory comments that this blog is teaching against or doing away with free will, it is not. I will answer genuine questions but I do not debate.